World Cup Betting is Hot at 5Dimes!
by Ian Palmer
Unfortunately, the biggest story of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil so far has been Uruguay and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez’s bite on Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini. But with Suarez now out of the way with a four-month, nine-game international ban perhaps Uruguay can now concentrate on playing some soccer. They’re definitely in tough in the second round as they take on Colombia at the famous Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on June 28.
Colombia was pegged as a dark horse when the tournament kicked off and they’ve lived up to that description and then some up to this point. Colombia won Group C with three straight wins. They shut out Greece 3-0, edged Ivory Coast 2-1 and then handed Japan a 4-1 beating. Uruguay finished second in Group G with a 3-1 loss to Costa Rica followed by a 2-1 win against England and a 1-0 victory to knock out Italy.
Colombia’s performance has still surprised many though since their top striker Radamel Falcao was ruled out of the tournament due to injury. With Falcao on the shelf James Rodriguez has taken advantage of his playing time to lead Colombia to the second stage of the World Cup for the first time since back in 1990. Uruguay shouldn’t be written off just yet though, even without Suarez in the lineup.
They’ve got a couple of other formidable strikers in Edinson Cavani and Diego Forlan and still have enough skill and talent to give the Colombians all they can handle. Forlan hasn’t played much when Suarez has been in the squad, but could take advantage of this opportunity to show the world that he’s still a top striker. The same could be said of Cavani actually, since he hasn’t done too much in the tournament other than score on a penalty kick in his side’s loss to Costa Rica.
Another key player for Uruguay will be midfielder Diego Godin. The Atletico Madrid player is good in both ends of the pitch and will need to be marked closely. Uruguay has played well against Colombia lately with six victories in the past eight meetings between the two South American rivals. Colo9mbia is on a roll though with nine goals scored in three Group C contests along with a +7 goal difference.
Colombian manager Jose Pekerman has some good young attackers in Rodriguez and Jackson Martinez and they will be depended on to spearhead the offense. Rodriguez has three goals to his name in the event while Martinez has chipped in with a pair. However, Colombia’s top striker at the moment could possibly be Teofilo Gutierrez. He scored twice in a 4-0 victory against Uruguay in a 2012 World Cup qualifying match. He also plays well with winger Juan Cuadrado. If Colombia does have a weakness right now, it’s in their own end as they sometimes struggle defensively. But they usually have enough firepower to overcome any defensive mistakes they may make.
